The world that was lost

LIFE BEFORE THE WAR

Essential Questions

What were the varieties of Jewish life that existed in Poland before World War II?

What was Jewish life like in Poland before World War II?

Was there a way to predict that it would be threatened?

THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE IS NOT JUST THE HOLOCAUST, AND THE HOLOCAUST IS NOT JUST THE JEWISH

EXPERIENCE. JEWISH EXPERIENCE EXISTS BEFORE AND AFTER THE HOLOCAUST. THE HOLOCAUST IS PART OF

HUMAN EXPERIENCE, HUMAN HISTORY.

Poland had >3,000,000 Jews before the war. (Israel only reached 6 million last week.)

In 1937, there were only 4.7 million Jews in all of the U.S.

There were ~ 16.5 million Jews in the whole world in 1939

There were Jews in every country in EuropePolish Jews had been in Poland ~ 1,000 yearsPoland = center of Jewish life, not AmericaMajor cities:

Warsaw: 30% Jewish Lodz: 33% Jewish Kielce: 40% Shtetls: 75% to 90% Jewish

JEWISH LIFE BEFORE THE WAR

FAMOUS SYNAGOGUES

Warsaw, Poland

Lodz, Poland

Most of the Polish population was ruralMost of the Jewish population was urbanOnly 4% of Jews = farmers, whereas >60% of Poles =

farmers In Lodz, 80% of doctors = Jewish In Warsaw, 66% of doctors = Jewish Jews just recently given right to votePoles worried they would be outvoted by minorities

CAN YOU SEE THE ROOTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM BEING BUILT?

DEMOGRAPHICS

In census, 88% of Polish Jews said mother tongue was Yiddish 70% said nationality was Jewish, not Polish. Many diff erent groups of Jews, each with own newspapers,

publications, social events, political arm

1. Hasids2. Bund3. Zionist4. Communist5. Agudat Israel6. Youth Movements7. Bais Yaakov

POLISH JEWRY WAS NOT MONOLITHIC, BUT A MOSAIC, all struggling with balancing modernity with tradition.

JEWISH CULTURE

YIDDISH IN PRINT

Sciences Albert Einstein Sigmund Freud

Literature Sholom Aleichem Isaac Peretz Isaac Bashevis Singer

Film Aizik Samberg Leon Kharaz Simkhe Rozen

FAMOUS ICONS

ReligionBaal Shem TovRebbe Nachman Gerer Rebbe

PhilosophyMartin BuberAbraham Joshua

HeschelFranz Rosensweig

Membership card of Breyndel Chliwner (Betti Kenig), a member of the Yiddish Actors Union, Warsaw, 1920. (YIVO)

Accultration: Adoption by a minority cultural group of a majority cultural group's customs and attitudes. Minority group manages to stay a distinct, although, altered, society.

Assimilation: Does not leave minority culture intact.

Minority group will gradually adopt the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture until inevitably it becomes completely absorbed by the dominant culture.

Poland: Accultration German: Assimilation

WHICH IS BETTER?

ACCULTRATION VS. ASSIMILATION

WHICH IS BETTER?

Poland

Vienna

THE NUMBERS

Country Prewar Jewish Population

Postwar Jewish Population

% killed

POLAND 3,000,000 45,000 98.5%

ROMANIA 980,000 280,000 71%

GREECE 100,000 7,000 93%